It was already noon on the second day when Yang Xiaohu returned to Zhang's mansion, and everyone looked at him in amazement as soon as he entered the door. In just one day, Yang Xiaohu was already unkempt and disheveled, and his legs shook when he walked in the door.

Meng Ge couldn't help but ask when he saw Yang Xiaohu, "Xiaohu, what about Shi Suo?"

Yang Xiaohu said with a bitter face: "Uncle Meng, I can't come back when the stone lock comes back, I threw the stone lock ......." As he spoke, he sat on the ground, Meng Ge asked in detail what had happened, and couldn't help but shake his head.

"You are miserable, my lord wants me to supervise you, if you don't see the stone lock, I will ask you to go to the Wu County stonemason to make two more returns. After Meng Ge said this, he went to the front hall, because the time for dinner had arrived at this time.

Yang Xiaohu sat on the ground and gasped for a long time, and couldn't help thinking: "It's better to make two more than a hundred miles and bring two back, eat first." Yang Xiaohu reluctantly stood up and walked to the front hall, and when he entered the hall and saw that everyone was there, he found a place where no one was and sat next to the table. As soon as he picked up the chopsticks, Meng Ge said on the other side: "Master Zhang commanded, you can't use rice." ”

Yang Xiaohu almost cried when he heard this: "Uncle Meng, I haven't eaten since yesterday, so you just let me eat and then go." ”

Meng Ge's head shook like a rattle, and Yang Xiaohu couldn't help but get up and walk out of the hall in frustration. Looking at the deep courtyard, Yang Xiaohu couldn't help but shed tears, his life was really bitter. The more Yang Xiaohu thought about it, the more sad he became, so he walked to no one's place and squatted at the base of the wall and began to tear down. At this time, someone walked in front of Yang Xiaohu, and Yang Xiaohu looked up and saw that it was his father-in-law.

Da Kui walked here with the support of his family, and looked at Yang Xiaohu looking embarrassed, Da Kui sighed: "I heard that you didn't come back all night, where did you go?"

Yang Xiaohu said what happened to him in tears, and Da Kui sneered and asked, "Just cry for this?"

Yang Xiaohu lowered his head and didn't speak, Da Kui turned his head and ordered his subordinates to take a chair to sit on, and then said to Yang Xiaohu seriously: "Back then, I guarded Anfeng City with your father after four years of bloody battles. Do you know how we got here?"

Yang Xiaohu looked up at Da Kui in a daze when he heard this, and Da Kui continued: "At that time, there was no food and grass in Anfeng City, and there were no rescuers outside, so the people took out all their own food stocks in order to support the army. Da Kui looked into the distance and said, "At that time, your father and I could only eat a full meal every two days, and we relied on eating grass roots and bark to satisfy our hunger on weekdays. Even so, we fought hard against the enemy every day, and that's how we got through for four years. ”

Yang Xiaohu was stunned when he heard this, and Da Kui said again: "The people of Anfeng would rather starve themselves than support the Red Turban soldiers, but later the people actually fed on the dead, and Guanyin soil was hungry. In the past four years, countless people in Anfeng have starved to death. As red turban generals, how can we let the expectations of the people be in vain?"

Da Kui ignored Yang Xiaohu, and just said: "Later, the grain and grass were exhausted, and there was no food in the city. When we arrived at safety, only me, King Xiao Ming, and dozens of soldiers survived, and most of the men and horses brought out were killed in battle, including your father. ”

When Da Kui said this, two lines of cloudy tears flowed down his face. But he still said: "The best of men always taste all kinds of hardships and suffer all kinds of hardships." It is often in times of extreme hardship that you still have to work hard, and only when you endure hardships can you become a master. Da Kui paused and said, "I hope you can be like your father, a good man who stands up to the sky, do you understand my hard work?"

Yang Xiaohu was already choked with tears at this time, and Da Kui sighed again and said, "If you are hungry, go and eat." With the support of his family, he slowly returned to the back house.

Yang Xiaohu lay on the ground for a long time before getting up, he didn't go to the front hall, but strode out of the door and ran all the way to the road he came. I don't know where the strength in my body came from, until I ran out of it and threw myself on the ground.

It's the time of spring, and the river is clear in the ditch by the roadside. Yang Xiaohu went to the ditch and drank water, and when the cold river water flowed into his stomach, Yang Xiaohu suddenly felt comfortable. When the wheezing was even, he got up and continued to run, in order to run longer, Yang Xiaohu did not go all out, but walked at a medium speed.

Running until dark, although Yang Xiaohu was dizzy and tired, he still gritted his teeth and persevered, and it was not until the middle of the moon that he arrived at the place where the stone lock was discarded. For more than 150 miles, Yang Xiaohu ran for five and a half hours (11 hours).

At the beginning, the stone lock was thrown by Yang Xiaohu in the grass on the side of the road, and there was no marking at that time. In desperation, Yang Xiaohu staggered and searched carefully on the side of the road, and it took him half an hour to find it. When Yang Xiaohu carried the stone lock to the road, he was already weak and exhausted. How can I go back in this way? I need to find something to eat, otherwise I will definitely not have the strength to support me to go back.

Looking around, it was pitch black. But by the moonlight, you can see that there seems to be a dealer in the distance, and there must be someone who has a dealer. Yang Xiaohu dragged his steps in the direction of the crop field, and when he got closer, he realized that this was actually a vegetable field.

In the spring, the farmers have just planted the seeds, and there are only an inch of seedlings on the ridges. Yang Xiaohu looked far away but saw no people, so he had no choice but to pick the seedlings on the ridge and eat them raw. The surroundings are dark and numb, Yang Xiaohu doesn't dare to eat the grass stalks in the grass, in case it is poisonous, but it should not be called the ground and the earth is not spiritual.

Although Yang Xiaohu didn't recognize what was planted on the ridge, he knew that it was definitely not poisonous. At this moment, Yang Xiaohu's stomach was full of hunger, where did he care if it was delicious or not, and what was he eating? This was a messy pick, and he ate for nearly half an hour before suppressing the hunger.

Yang Xiaohu returned to the road, picked up the two stone locks and walked back, and the two stone locks seemed to weigh a thousand catties. didn't take a hundred steps, Yang Xiaohu was already sweating profusely. It's as if the water you have just eaten and drunk is sweating profusely. I must go back, and I can't let my stepfather down. This is the idea in Yang Xiaohu's heart, although it is difficult step by step, but Yang Xiaohu is still firm, step by step when he walks back, Yang Xiaohu keeps chanting: "Heaven descends on the people, they must first suffer their minds, work their muscles and bones, and starve their bodies and skin." My father-in-law is right, not to endure hardships and sufferings to be a superior ....... ”